We were introduced in 2001, when an English reading friend recommended her novel Angel to me, which I read in a single day. It immediately seemed like one of those books with which I'd always been familiar. And its author was secured on my Must Read Everything list. Inside my
Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God McClelland & Stewart, 1966 Rachel Cameron's List of Problems: 1. Mother 2. Work 3. Loneliness 4. Manawaka life and last, but not least, 5. Rachel Cameron. Her mother is getting older, and she not only has heart problems, but a brilliant capacity for passive-aggressive
Daphne duMaurier's Flight of the Falcon (1965) Penguin, 1969 Virago Modern Classic No. 516 Did you notice that I was complaining about the female characters (and their complete and utter uselessness/sexlessness/vixenishness) in The Birds last week? Oh, I admit, that made me a bit nervous. I was really wondering if
Daphne Du Maurier's The Birds (1952) Arrow Books, 1992 Virago Modern Classic No. 498 My favourite story from this collection is "The Apple Tree". Partly because I've long believed that there is more to a tree than one might think, thanks to years of reading L.M. Montgomery's novels, in which
Nicola Beauman's A Very Great Profession: The Woman's Novel 1914-39 (1983) Virago, 1984. Persephone No. 78, 2008. I'm certain that I've said this before, but this is one of my favourite kinds of books about books. Nicola Beauman's A Very Great Profession is obviously written out of a passion for
